Monday, 14 June 2021
Last week (ending 12 June 2021), Naturgy became the first company to inject biomethane from landfill into the national gas distribution network.
The renewable gas plant is located in Cerdanyola del Valles, Barcelona, next to the Elena landfill. Investment in the gas plant amounted to 2.2 million Euro.
Naturgy not only operate in Spain, but also have natural gas distribution operations in Italy and some Latin American countries. The gas plant project also leverages Naturgy's investment in Spanish natural gas infrastructure.
The plant will produce approximately 12 GWh of biomethane a year, which would allow domestic gas consumers to avoid 2 400 tonnes of associated CO2 emissions. Some of the output is also slated for mobility/transport applications, where it can count towards a targeted transport emission reduction of 28 MtCO2-eq by 2030 (compared to 2021) as stated in the national energy climate plan (or PNIEC).
Naturgy has been particularly bullish towards renewable gases, having funded or acquired various projects in biomethane from waste water, including the Bens wastewater treatment plant in A Coruña in the country's North West. They have also authored the report ‘Los gases renovables. Un vector energético emergente’ via the Naturgy Foundation, which suggests renewable gas production (both biomethane and renewable hydrogen) could be reach the equivalent of 65% of current natural gas demand with proper investment and development.
We reported on a Power Purchase Agreement (or more specifically, a Gas Purchase Agreement) for landfill gas in Spain in January this year, between Ferrovial and Waga. This gas will also be injected into the distribution grid. However, the Waga gas plant will only be commissioned in 2022.
While the Naturgy agreement marks a first for distribution system injection by a landfill plant, the first biomethane plant injecting into the national distribution grid was a sewage gas plant, which was commissioned in 2019 according to the EBA.
While the growth of biomethane in the Iberian nation is all but assured given the abundance of feed from Spanish agriculture and livestock sectors, Spain currently does not have an operating renewable gas GO system.
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